Telecom Ramblings

The carrier neutral data center giant Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX, news, filings) made a move on a completely new part of the world this morning, announcing the purchase of its first data center in the Middle East and an alliance with a regional operator to smooth the way forward.  [Read more →]

There’s a very interesting article over at Capacity Magazine that takes a look at the future of European fiber networks in light of the coming expiration of the IRUs signed in the bubble years. Yes, the golden age of the fiber swap (1997-2000) was 12-15 years and four presidential elections ago now.  The industry is sliding inexorably toward having to figure out what [Read more →]

For all the talk about how we don’t have enough competition in wireless, one willing competitor is finding it hard to force the door open enough to slip in. Dish Network and its Chairman, Charlie Ergen, have been trying to shoulder their way into the space for more than a year now, and according to the WSJ today the FCC is about to add some weight to the other side of the door once again. [Read more →]

Thanksgiving may be around the corner, but Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) was too hungry to wait, and yesterday announced its intention to buy Meraki. The purchase, which will cost them $1.2B in cash and incentives, is yet another inorganic part of Cisco’s cloud strategy. Last week they also [Read more →]

We have three new job listings on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this week, including one from Birch Communications in Georgia and two from Noel Communications up in the Pacific Northwest. [Read more →]

It’s not just a Friday it’s the Friday before the work-shortened Thanksgiving week and folks are surely ready to bolt. Here’s a quick look at some of the other interesting news this week that I didn’t get to for one reason or another, including items from Bandwidth’s inetwork division, ViaSest, Birch, Enventis, and US Signal. [Read more →]

The last fiber-fed word on the quarter goes to Zayo, which started its fiscal 2013 with an even more complex mix of organic and inorganic activity.  The AboveNet and FiberGate deals closed in Q3, US Carrier closed last month, and the new First Communications deal still has a few weeks left, which means following the numbers is a bit like taking a snapshot of a rail switchyard.  But it was the organic burst of [Read more →]

This article was authored by John C. Tanner, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a new Wimax network going live. [Read more →]

After a fine quarterly earnings report, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO, news, filings) stopped off for dessert in the clouds. They announced this morning their intention to acquire Cloupia, which offers infrastructure management software. [Read more →]

A look at some overseas news from Orange Business, CDNetworks, Interoute, and the South Atlantic Cable System: [Read more →]

Broadview Networks is back from its prepackaged Chapter 11 surgery and ready to unveil its new look, emerging from an 11 week trip through chapter 11. With a new balance sheet in place, they hope to use the extra financial flexibility to invest in the cloud services market.  [Read more →]

CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL, news, filings) isn’t waiting any longer, and today jumped on the 100G bandwagon.  They are now offering 100G Ethernet Wavelengths across their US footprint plus Singapore and London.  Further expansion of the upgrade internationally is planned for early 2013.  Connectivity to its cloud offerings over at Savvis are [Read more →]

Over in Europe, Colt Group (LON:COLT, news) has raised the ante in the low latency wars between London and Frankfurt, but this time it’s not about tightening fiber tails and such.  In fact, it’s not about fiber at all, but microwave.  The pan-European operator announced that it will be augmenting its low latency fiber connectivity with a parallel microwave option, potentially cutting current speeds by [Read more →]

Here’s a set of quick takes on news of regional and channel interest, with items from Integra, Alpheus, CENIC, Earthlink, ColoAtl, and Telarus: [Read more →]

UK-based Vodafone Group (NYSE:VOD, news, filings) has had an interesting day, with both outsized losses and cash windfalls to keep investors hopping. [Read more →]

According to a release this morning, Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM, news, filings) has agreed to purchase Verivue in an all cash transaction. The move is clearly intended to help the dominant CDN provider improve its licensed solutions for network operators. [Read more →]

Time for a quick roundup of some of the other news lately, with items from Sidera Networks and CoreSite, Level 3 and Tulane, DuPont Fabros, and Southern Cross. [Read more →]

In its quest to further disrupt the DWDM marketplace with its DTN-X gear, Infinera (NASDAQ:INFN, news, filings) today announced both a key product enhancement and a large new customer.  Investors and customers alike waited impatiently for the company’s 100G entry, but since it started shipping in the second quarter the vendor has been moving quickly. [Read more →]

In a very interesting move, Amsterdam’s EvoSwitch is doing something we haven’t seen often (if at all) from European data center operators. They’re expanding across the Atlantic with the announcement of a big new data center in Northern Virginia this morning. [Read more →]

In an extensive comment he left here recently, Zayo’s Dan Caruso said that “the end of consolidation of fiber-based platforms is near”. Certainly we have seen a lot of it in the past five years and the field is much smaller now. However, it got me thinking about pockets of the industry where there is a lot left to resolve. And the biggest, most obvious pocket of independent small and mid-sized metro and regional fiber operators is in the Northeast [Read more →]

We have two new job listing on the Ramblings’ Jobs board this week from the Midwestern-based fiber builder and operator Unite Private Networks.   UPN is looking to find both a [Read more →]

On Wednesday, AT&T (NYSE:T, news, filings) unveiled a new network expansion and upgrade spending plan that covered a lot of ground. I’m afraid I skimmed it and thought LTE, no surprises there… But as a reader pointed out to me today, it’s actually got a blockbuster fiber-to-the-business component: [Read more →]

More than four years ago, back in the early days of this site, I dabbled with a naval analogy for the world of network operators. The sector has evolved greatly since then through consolidation and such, so I thought I’d revisit it on this post-Election and post-Sandy Friday. The simple question is: if each US network operator was a warship, which type would they be? [Read more →]